Artificial intelligence and blockchain initiatives are earmarked for a doubling of investment, finds the Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey for 2018

Artificial intelligence and blockchain initiatives have emerged as critical new areas of focus for IT systems buyers in the UK, and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea), in the Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey for 2018.

Download this free guide

To infinity and beyond: Big data delivering beyond the hype

Despite Gartner placing it in its famous "plateau of productivity", big data has and still is, delivering beyond the hype. We look at a few high-profile examples of how organisations are reaping the benefits of their big data projects.

I agree to TechTarget’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and the transfer of my information to the United States for processing to provide me with relevant information as described in our Privacy Policy.

Please check the box if you want to proceed.

I agree to my information being processed by TechTarget and its Partners to contact me via phone, email, or other means regarding information relevant to my professional interests. I may unsubscribe at any time.

Please check the box if you want to proceed.

By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) remain the strongest categories for packaged business applications, with 53% of respondents saying these are priority areas for investment. But this figure represents modest 3% growth for ERP and 2% for CRM, across Emea.

The survey, for which TechTarget questioned 243 IT professionals in the UK and 1,875 in Emea as a whole in the fourth quarter of 2017, focused on buying decisions for 2018.

Last year’s survey saw CRM emerging as, by far, the number one priority for IT systems buyers in the UK for 2017, in terms of packaged business applications.

And, in relation to software initiatives that require involved in-house work by corporate IT, a triad stood neck-and-neck: business process automation (BPA); data quality and governance; and business intelligence and its traditional complement, data warehousing.

This year, BPA plunged as a UK investment area, from 22% to 10%, and fell from 22% to 19% in Emea as a whole. Data quality and governance also declined as an expressed priority, down from 22% to 17% in the UK, and 17% to 14% in Emea. Focus on business intelligence (BI) and analytics also reduced a little, by 2% both in the UK and across Emea.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain each, by contrast, spiked as priority areas. AI leapt from 8% to 18% as a priority area in the UK, and from 8% to 16% in Emea. Blockchain went from 3% to 6% as an investment priority area in the UK, and from 5% to 10% in the Emea region as a whole.

In the 2017 survey, respondents had been asked about some of the then new and emerging business software developments, such as internet of things (IoT) applications, artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML), and blockchain.

Compare with last year: read some results from the Computer Weekly/TechTarget annual IT priorities survey for 2017

The numbers were quite small at that time, in a range from 3% (blockchain for the UK respondents) to 12% (IoT applications, also the UK). AI and ML registered as initiatives for significant minorities of the French (10%), the British (8%) and the Germans (7%).

New for 2018 was a question about cloud applications – software as a service (SaaS). CRM was the clear leader as an investment priority here, at 45%, followed by ERP, at 31%. Collaboration applications, at 29%, also scored relatively highly, in third place. This category also evinced increased interest across the region as a whole, regardless of delivery mode – cloud or on-premise. It went from 16% to 20%, though it stayed flat, at 18%, in the UK. In France, it scored particularly highly, at 34%.

For cloud-based applications as a whole, the UK showed the strongest investment interest, at 33%, with German-speaking countries close behind, at 31%, and France lagging, at 17%.

The Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Dach) region led on business intelligence and data analytics (24%), business process automation (26%), and data visualisation (20%). It also led on blockchain (10% of German respondents, by contrast with 5% of the French). However, it lagged slightly behind France and the UK (each at 18%), by one percentage point.

Start the conversation

0 comments

Register

I agree to TechTarget’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and the transfer of my information to the United States for processing to provide me with relevant information as described in our Privacy Policy.

Please check the box if you want to proceed.

I agree to my information being processed by TechTarget and its Partners to contact me via phone, email, or other means regarding information relevant to my professional interests. I may unsubscribe at any time.